A new true-crime documentary aims to uncover the gruesome details of the notorious serial killer who turned his victims into “skin suits” and inspired dozens of modern horror films.
The four-part series, titled Psycho: The Lost Tapes Of Ed Gein, delves deeper into the sadistic exploits of the now notorious murderer and necrophile who was committed to a mental institution following his sadistic crimes.
Gein, who was based in Plainfield, Wisconsin in the late 1950s, became known for his heinous acts that are said to have inspired a slew of films – including Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. – branded as “The Plainfield Ghoul” and “The Mad Butcher” Silence of the Lambs.
Here, FEMAIL has laid bare the troubling reality surrounding Gein’s troubling lifestyle.
The four-part series delves deeper into the sadistic exploits of notorious murderer and necrophile Ed Gein (pictured), who was committed to a mental institution following his crimes
Nothing could have prepared officers for what they would find at Gein’s run-down farmhouse, littered with clutter and rotting garbage
Ed Gein and his older brother Henry grew up in a tumultuous atmosphere. Her parents – George and Augusta – were constantly at odds but refused to divorce because of their religious beliefs.
Augusta, a fervent Lutheran, took time each afternoon to read Scriptures to her son—mostly choosing descriptive verses about death and divine retribution.
The mother-of-two was also careful to keep them away from outside influences, only allowing them to leave the house to go to school and turning them off when they made friends.
But despite their tight reins, Ed in particular was still eager to please his mother.
His father died of a heart attack in 1940 and just four years later his brother was killed in a brush fire – some investigators wondering if Ed had been involved.
Her death resulted in Ed living alone with Augusta until she died in 1945 after a series of strokes.
He is said to have boarded up all the rooms used by his mother after her death to leave them untouched – and limited himself to just one room.
The young man explained at the time that he had “lost his only friend and his only true love”. And he was absolutely alone in the world.’
Gein confessed to killing hardware store owner Bernice Worden (left) and public house owner Mary Hogan (right).
He is said to have boarded up all the rooms his mother used after her death to leave them untouched – and limited himself to just one room (pictured)
At Gein’s home, authorities found shells made from human skulls, human skin covering chair seats, a belt made from female nipples, and a lampshade made from human face skin (pictured).
But when left to his own devices, Gein developed a sick fascination with corpses and began grave robbing and corpse robbing.
What was in Ed Gein’s House of Horrors?
- four noses
- Human bones and fragments
- Nine masks made from human skin
- Soup bowls made from human skulls
- Ten female heads with the tops sawn off
- Human skin covers several chair seats
- Nine dried vulvas in a shoebox
- skulls on his bedpost
- organs in the refrigerator
- Curtain pull with sewn-in lips
- Belt made from human female nipples
- Human skin “shirt” complete with breasts
- Lampshade made from the skin of a human face
After exhuming bodies from his local cemeteries, he began crafting gruesome trophies out of skin and bones.
And the extent of his twisted crimes began to emerge after he was named a prime suspect in the 1957 disappearance of hardware store owner Bernice Worden.
Her son told police that Gein had been at the store the day before and came back the next morning to buy antifreeze — that was the last receipt Worden had given.
Authorities soon ransacked his home, and the then 51-year-old killer quickly confessed to the 1954 murder of Worden and another woman, tavern owner Mary Hogan.
But nothing could have prepared officials for what they would find at Gein’s run-down farmhouse, littered with clutter and rotting garbage.
Police found Worden’s decapitated body hanging upside down in his shed, her body disemboweled.
Her head was in his home with Hogan’s.
Unfortunately, the chilling discoveries didn’t stop there: authorities also reportedly found shells made from human skulls, human skin covering chair seats, a belt made from female nipples, and a lampshade made from human face skin — to name a few.
Gein was promptly arrested and revealed during interrogation that he had gone to the three local cemeteries up to 40 times to exhume recently buried bodies.
He was also suspected of killing four other victims, but this was never proven.
Gein stood trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment, but after being found “legally insane” he spent the rest of his life in a mental institution.
His “house of horrors” was burned down while he was in prison in 1958, and that same year the car he had used to carry the bodies of his victims to his home was sold at a public auction.
It received 15 bids before being sold for $760 (equivalent to about $8,000) to Carnival supporting actor Bunny Gibbons of Rockford, Illinois, who later charged carnival-goers 25 cents to see it.
Gein was promptly arrested and revealed during interrogation that he had gone to the three local cemeteries up to 40 times to exhume recently buried bodies
Police (pictured digging in Gein’s garage) found Worden’s decapitated body hanging upside down in his shed, her body disemboweled
His “house of horrors” was burned to the ground while he was incarcerated on suspicion of arson – before he died of respiratory and heart failure from cancer in 1984
The gruesome details of Gein’s crimes have inspired a slew of villains who have been the focus of Hollywood blockbusters – most notably Norman Bates in Psycho (left) and Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs (right).
Gein died of respiratory and heart failure from cancer in 1984.
He was buried next to his mother before vandals later desecrated the killer’s grave.
The gruesome details of Gein’s crimes have inspired a slew of villains who have been the focus of Hollywood blockbusters – most notably Norman Bates in Psycho, Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. .
And now, Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein will use “never-before-heard footage” to explore the killer’s “upbringing and his twisted relationship with his mother, his early grave robbing, the murders that led to his arrest, and the… to investigate discovery by the police.’ his terrible house of horrors.’
The documentaries will stream on MGM+ in September.